Several times a year, during the week, my wife and I had a little date night; we hire a babysitter and head out for dinner and then a play. We try to hit a different BYOB in the city each time so that I can bring a bottle of wine that I have been holding on to for a few years. Last night was a little different in that there was a Chardonnay that I just got in from Last Bottle that I have been meaning to try, but since I had never had it before, I brought a backup. I also had perused the menu online and I was really interested in their pork loin dish–thus, I chose a Pinot. There was no way that we were going to finish both bottles, so I opted for a rather run-of-the-mill Pinot; I knew it would likely stay open for a day or two.
Why does any of this matter? Well, I am above all else, a wine snob and one of my obsessions favorite things to do is observe what wines the other patrons bring to the restaurant. It drives my wife nuts, but that is beside the point. Well, last night, I got out ‘wined’. By a lot. Actually, the wine that another table brought, Kosta Browne, was certainly waaaaay more expensive than my wine, but I am not so sure it was ‘better’.
I have had Kosta Browne only once in my life–a few years ago at the International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC) in McMinnville, Oregon. It is one of those wines that always receives very high scores from Robert Parker et al and it is nearly impossible to find for sale. When you do find it, people are asking well north of $100/bottle. So I always wanted to try it. When I finally got the chance at IPNC, I was very excited–there were hundreds of great Pinots all around and I honed in on the KB (that’s what all the cool kids call it). I took a sip. Hmmmm. Swirled a bit. Took another sip. Swish. Swish. Aerate.
Spit.
Dump.
It was awful: it tasted a lot more like cough syrup than it did Pinot Noir. Thick, unctuous, over-extracted. Bleh. There were far too many other interesting wines there that I wanted to try–I was not going to waste any more time on KB (I was a little crest-fallen, sure, but the 1996 Chambertin I found at the next table helped ease the pain quite a bit).
That brings us back to date night. At the table next to us, the guy who brought the KB was explaining it to the other three men at his table (none of them seemed to know what Kosta Browne was–I am fairly certain they may have heard of Yellow Tail, though). My wife was talking about her day, the upcoming play, the kids, but I was trying to hear what the guy at the other table was saying (I lost ‘husband of the year’ a while ago, so relax). I was waiting to hear something very specific. Then he said it:
“Robert Parker gave this wine a 96.”
Robert Parker
I knew he was going to mention good old RP. For those two of you who don’t know, few would argue that anybody has had more influence in the wine world than Robert Parker. If RP scores a wine highly, it ensures that wine will likely double in price (at least) and certainly sell out. Winemakers have realized this and they have been making wines that will appeal to his palate. What type of wines does RP like? Big, huge, fruit-bombs that are highly extracted and usually high in alcohol. The kind of wine that rarely goes well with food.
The kind of wine I hate.
Yesterday, the wine world was rocked quite a bit when it leaked out that RP had sold his magazine (the Wine Advocate) to some ‘investors’ in China and that there were going to be rather big changes to his ‘newsletter’. A few have wondered what that would mean for the wine industry as a whole since one of the driver seemed to be getting off the bus.
So instead of Wine ‘Trivia’ today, I pose these questions:
- What do you think about the reported departure of Robert Parker?
- What will fill the void that he leaves behind? Another critic? Nothing? Wine Bloggers (like the Drunken Cyclist, ha ha ha)?
- Will winemakers who have been making wine ‘for’ Robert Parker change at all?
- Have you ever had Kosta Browne? What did you think?
the drunken cyclist 
Seriously, you want all of that in the format of the comment? Hmmm, pretty challenging… Let’s see
1. The whole situation with RP is very controversial – WSJ provided some info, and then RP said in his comments and remarks that some of it is not true. I personally couldn’t care less – I’m not buying wine based on his scores or any other scores – I only take them as a reference.
2. There are plenty of critics staying – this might slightly increase influence of Wine Spectator, but there are so many publications and sources scoring wines, even outside of the sites like CellarTracker, so I don’t think we will have a shortage of critical input. I personally will gladly take Drunken Cyclist’s recommendation over RP 🙂
3. At some point those winemakers will have to change. I don’t think those are the wines which Millennials are aspiring to – but this change will have to happen with or without RP
4. Never tried that, and based on what you wrote above, not sure even if I want to. Don’t get me wrong – if it will be offered at the tasting, I will gladly try it – but there are so so many amazing wines produced everywhere, I will always find something interesting to drink. And I can tell you, I have a similar problem with Joseph Phelps Insignia – I tasted it many times, different vintages – to me, it always tastes like I chew on the branches, raw and green – I find no pleasure in that wine – oh well, I will find something else to drink : )
LikeLike
Thanks for the comments Anatoli! Yeah it seems as though the whole RP thing might not be as big of a deal as initially thought. The other critics just do not have anywhere close to the same pull (even combined, imo). I sure hope the winemakers start to change–you see more and more producers making wine that makes sense, which is a good sign. Maybe as the American people become more wine savvy…. I am glad that the guy at the resto did not offer me a glass since I either would have had to decline or pretend that I liked it….
LikeLike
1. I don’t have any concerns about Robert Parker’s departure. There is a large variety of reputable wine guides out there. The vintners should never try to make wines that pleases one single critic. The Gambero Rosso lets many critics at the same time blind taste the wines for the wine guide.
2. There are plenty of other wine guides out there that could fill the void. I don’t think Bloggers will fill it though.
3. I hope they will change. They should make wine that they personally feel is good and not that Robert Parker feels is good.
4. I never had a Kosta Browne.
LikeLike
Thanks so much for the comments! Glad to hear that I am not on an island when I say that no one wine critic should be that powerful–and don’t sell us bloggers short! No one knows Italy better than you!
LikeLike
I would add something about the wines Parker likes – tannin. He likes them high in alcohol and with lots of tannins. The kind that stick on your tongue way after you drank and can be erased only with rare steak. I had clients winemakers from Sonoma and Mendocino counties who complained that no matter what they make, Parker won’t even think about trying them. And some others – legend has it – modified their winemaking so they could make “Parker wines”. Why the (beep) would one make something only to please a critic?
Second – last week in class we has a speaker who was personal friend of Dan Kosta. They grew up together. The guy is a wine broker. He said that even based on the friendship, he gets exactly the proportion of Kosta Browne wine as he got every single year for the past 20+ years. If it is a bad year – he gets less, if it is a better year, he gets more, but we talk here about 10-20 cases he has to split between accounts. Their wine is a cult wine. Never tried it, it’s probably $100 by glass at the fanciest restaurants. I’d rather have the Pinots made by that crazy guy, Les Claypool (from Primus, the guy who also wrote the South Park theme) – and if you ever come to Sebastopol, I’d suggest a visit to his caboose tasting room, where his lovely wife is pouring and he pops in occasionally.
LikeLike
That’s a very good point. Most of the time I drink a ‘Parker wine’ I have so much trouble getting past the fruit that I do not even notice the tannins! And I hear you! More Les, less KB! And I have been to the tasting room–very cool!
LikeLike
I’m only going to answer #4, so no prize for me.
4. I’ve had a Kosta Browne Pinot Noir one time, and it is my crowning glory of blind tasting. I was at a Pinot Noir wine class, and we had 4 Pinot’s served blind. We knew 1 was a nice French Burgundy and 1 was an expensive American PN. I picked the gloppy, vanilla soaked wine as Kosta Browne, only because it’s one of the best known super high scoring, ripe, expensive American PN’s. Shazam! For 15 seconds I was a blind tasting savant.
(By the way, gloppy & vanilla soaked are not my preferred style of Pinot Noir)
LikeLike
I can’t believe you have only had 15 seconds in the role of wine savant! (But I do expect that KB would be rather easy to pick out in a blind tasting–it seems as though they would take that as a compliment!)
LikeLike
Several years ago, I encountered a winery in CA that pursued (maybe they still are) in making wine to please RP. As they were trying to convince me to add their label to my portfolio, they were not shy to say that they have actually asked RP what sort of wine they need to make to score more than 90 points from him. And I had to ask myself if I would be buying RP’s wine or the winery owner’s wine. It would be a wine without any soul or story. Well, i didn’t include this label in my portfolio.
LikeLike
Thanks for the comment! Good to know there are others out there fighting the good fight!
LikeLike